"kelloggs" news and stories

Kellogg's, why did you try to fool us again? Yes, those blueberry bits in cereals and infamously lackluster packaged muffins from the gas station? Not real. Real sugar and food dye; but not berries from the berry bush. We can't say we're surprised, just officially disgusted.

It turns out, some of our biggest industry bakers are only good as colorists. A new video released by the Consumer Wellness Center last week shows that this is actually no secret. As we've seen before, the front of packages always sound better than the back. If you turn over a Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin box, touting fresh blueberries on the front, you'll find an ingredients list with an item called "blueberry flavored crunchlets." Crunchlets -- a word we hope never becomes official -- is defined as a mix of sugars, soybean oil, red #40 and blue #2. Voilà, blueberry! Minus, of course, those real-deal elements: antioxidants, manganese, vitamins C and E, and dietary fiber.

You can also expect similar frauds in cereals, breads and muffins from Betty Crocker, Target and General Mills, whose Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal contains neither blueberry nor pomegranate. Who to trust? A real baker. Or the makers of products like Natures' Path Organic Optimum Blueberry-Cinnamon Breakfast Cereal, which actually contains real blueberries and cinnamon.

A S'more cereal sounds campy and kind of heavenly. And you can make it yourself with Kellogg's new corn-based Pops MiXit cereals: Just blend three single flavors (Chocolate, Graham, and Marshmallow) to create one brilliant bowl. Problem is, says Chowhound writer James Norton, it's one bland breakfast. Norton taste-tested all five Pops flavors (the others are Strawberry and Double Fudge). Visit Chowhound to get the scoop.

Where's my Eggo?

That's the question many lovers of frozen Eggo waffles are wondering following nationwide shortages of the popular breakfast food.

Kellogg's, which manufactures Eggo, blames the short supply on flooding that hit an Atlanta processing facility in September, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Those long and lean cereal boxes we've all grown accustomed to might soon be a thing of the past. Advertising Age reports that Kellogg's is testing a new "space-saving" cereal box design that will still give us 12 oz. of crunchy breakfast, but come in a much shorter and fatter box. They think this new design will fit more easily in pantries and on shelves.

What is most interesting, however, is how they're talking about the change, citing improvements to their "footprint," as well as "efficiency and effectiveness." Sounds like using environmental terms in shifty ways to me. What footprint are they speaking of? The space a box takes up in your kitchen? Methinks that hurdle has already been passed. I mean, we've had the same shape for eons.

Tropicana, Corn Flakes ... breakfast will never be the same! What do you think of their new boxy scheme?

[via Serious Eats]

As a kid Rice Krispies was one of my favorite cereals largely due to its onomatopoeic spokescharacters: Snap, Crackle and Pop. As for flavor, I never though it was all that great, but I was always fascinated by this musical cereal. It was a treat to pour the milk over the little bits of crisped rice and sit back and enjoy the show.

Apparently Kellogg's thought that kids in the '80s needed a little more stimulation than the percussive trio provided and released a promotional record with catchy tunes covering musical styles ranging from gospel to New Wave. This bizarre excercise in branding starts out with a rollicking gospel number that includes the lyrics, "Waking up, waking up, you and me waking up to that Snap, crackle, pop. We've got the whole wide world waking up waking up." There's also a country tune that features a twangy voiced guy singing, "You see it's downright fun to pour the milk on top to put snap, crackle, pop into your morning."

It's worth going to WFMU's Beware the Blog, to check out the wacky tunes. The last tune is a pitch-perfect New Wave rocker. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at breakfast cereal.

[via BoingBoing]

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